Article

A recent Pediatric Blood & Cancer article is showing the burden of care for central-line associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) in cancer and blood disorder outpatients with compromised immune systems. The study, done at Boston Children's Hospital and based in part on a CHA collaborative, estimates a six-day hospitalization to treat an infection costs over $35,000.

Many aspects of care are shifting to home. Sixty percent of pediatric patients with cancer and blood disorders have long-term ambulatory central lines, which means there are 2-2.5 times more outpatient CLABSIs than inpatient CLABSIs in pediatric cancer patients. The results of this study are part of the second phase of a collaborative effort among children's hospitals to understand and reduce CLABSIs that originate in the home, between outpatient clinic visits. In the first phase, members of CHA's Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorders Network reduced inpatient CLABSIs by 28 percent in less than three years.